Children have a tendency to verbally interrupt adults when they are busy. If ever a person has been interrupted by a child during an important phone conversation, he/she knows just what I mean. People I have interviewed on the subject tell me what a difficult problem it is to deal with. Most parents just tell their children not to interrupt when they are on the phone or talking with someone else. Even though we tell the child that it is not polite to interrupt, for some reason that message never seems to be enough. It usually leads to some form of disciplinary action without curing the problem, which still reoccurs over and over again. Children feel bad after being reprimanded and sad because somehow their question became irrelevant. This type of behavior can be exasperating for parents and embarrassing sometimes. Parents are left wondering, “How can this be happening to me again?” Behavioral psychologists agree that punishing troubling behavior lowers self esteem and causes emotional distress. Punishment may temporarily suppress inappropriate behavior, but does very little to effect long-term change. Rather than taking disciplinary action to the next level, it is suggested that the communication system according to the present invention be used. One parent I interviewed said she doesn't allow her child to interrupt her. When asked, “What do you do when your now 10 year old daughter interrupts you when you're on the phone?” She replied, “I turn and run into the bathroom and shut the door.” Obviously that technique minimizes the damage to the current telephone caller but she definitely still has the problem. She's also totally in denial. In other words, the problem exists and is more prevalent than some parents want to admit. I believe that one of the reasons for the existence of this problem is that the brain cannot interpret verbal information from multiple sources simultaneously. When two people talk to you at the same time, sensory overload occurs instantly, because both verbal stimuli are competing for the same cranial nerve pathway into the brain.
Beginning in pre-school, children around the globe learn the universal sign of raising their hand for “I have a question.”. This silent method of communication has been around a very long time. Besides being easy, the reason it works so well is because verbal and visual input take separate pathways into the brain. Both stimuli easily slip into the brain and are processed instantly and simultaneously. When a speaker or a listener sees a hand go up, communication doesn't abruptly end. It actually continues and expands to include others. No valuable information is lost, because no communication breakdown occurs. This sign language technique is perfect for the classroom and other institutional settings. However, it doesn't appear to be the method of choice at home and in other social situations. In fact, outside the classroom, there is no specific protocol or universal method for silently interrupting someone, until now. My invention provides a specific home remedy, which has been proven to correct this behavior in a manner that is satisfactory to both the child and the adult.